ShezaGirlie said:
I think this is a case of "size matters"
I am sure "size" does matter, at least somewhat. At Stanford, they would not let me leave the hospital until I had a bra on. Their material says that all women are to wear their bras after OHS because the weight of the breasts will pull down on the sternum. But if mine weren't "heavy", I probably would have not worn one after I got home.
Since I normally wear the underwires, I went shopping before the surgery and bought some of those cami's with the built-in shelf bra to wear after the surgery. I took one to the hospital with me for the trip home. The cardiac rehab nurse kind of frowned on that but it was what I had brought to wear so that is what I wore. Possibly because of the "size", I found the cami's kind of hard to get into in the beginning.....whether I stepped into it or pulled it over my head, the bra part invariably got stuck in the wrong place and I had trouble getting it adjusted and getting the boobs in there right. By the time I did, I was worn out and my chest was hurting. So I wound up wearing a bra (soft-cup about a size larger around than I usually wear) for about the 1st 2-3 weeks after I got home. You wouldn't believe how many bras I ended up buying and then taking back trying to find SOMETHING that was comfortable enough to wear! The problem was, the bra was rubbing on the incision and causing it to not heal properly. So after a couple of weeks, I went back to the cami's. By then, they were easier to get on and since they did not rub on the incision, they were much more comfortable. I continued to wear the cami's until about 8 weeks out.
It was February when I had my surgery and I tend to be very cold-natured so I brought my own flannel pajama bottoms to wear in the hospital. I know I could have asked for some pajama bottoms but it felt good to wear at least some of my own clothes. I also took some of the footies with the non-skid stuff on the bottom for my feet. Using those, I didn't need any slippers and my footies were much nicer and more comfortable than those that they have.
Most hospitals don't give you very much in the way of toiletries in the admit kit anymore....its pretty expensive for them to provide all that stuff to every patient and most people bring their own stuff anyway. They always have any toiletries that you need or want available but you have to ask for them. I took my toothbrush and toothpaste because I work in a hospital and I know that the toothbrushes that they give you are better than nothing but thats about all you can say for them. I also took my comb and brush and some scrunchies.....I had my mom put my hair up out of my face. I didn't wash my hair while I was at the hospital so it was nice to have it pulled up out of my way.
I also brought a book (but I didn't feel like concentrating enough to read), my CD Player & a few CD's (I really enjoyed just laying back and listening to my favorite music), some mints for a dry mouth (lasix really dries you out), and a small clock for my bedside table (I like to know what time it is).
Good Luck....Keep us posted!
Diane